


Tongue Tied

by nvghterror



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Angst with a Happy Ending, IT 2017 - Freeform, M/M, Sonia Kaspbrak's A+ Parenting, idiots to lovers, it Stephen king - Freeform, they are teens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-21 17:22:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20858486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nvghterror/pseuds/nvghterror
Summary: He passes the lockers and see his ex-friends standing there and looking at him. He thinks they are going to dodge at any time and leave but instead they just stand as if waiting for him.Richie just walks past them and keeps going.A hand on his wrist stops him – and he looks down to meet the owner. Is Eddie, who looks hurt for a second before his expression changes to something more of curiosity than anything. “Hey, where are you going?” But Richie pulls his arm away and simply says. “Is none of your fucking business.” And he doesn’t intend on sounding so sad – hurt and angry all together but he does. He does because he is tired of them being so dismissive about him.“C-c-calm down, Rich.” Comes Bill’s voice behind Eddie and Richie can’t look away from Eddie though because he looks hurt himself – closer to tears than Richie has ever seen him. “How ‘bout you get off my dick and leave me alone.” And the losers have barely said more than one sentence to him, but he is done. Done – because they had made it clear all week, they wanted nothing to do with Richie. And if what he had heard last Saturday meant anything, was that they didn’t think of him as part of the group either way.





	Tongue Tied

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually supposed to be part of a fic I'm writing but since certain aspects of it don't fit the story, I decided to make it into a one-shot fic instead. Is angsty with a happy ending, Reddie implied and cute at the end. Hope you guys like it!
> 
> Also I opened up an It's tumblr that you can find by [clicking here ](https://nvghtcalll.tumblr.com/).
> 
> PS. Please pardon if there are any errors, is already two in the morning and I've tried to proof read this but I'm very tired.
> 
> P.PS. The reason behind the tittle? Well I was listening to the song called Tongue Tied on repeat for three hours as I wrote this so there's that.

Richie was eagerly knocking on Eddie’s front door. He had spent almost ten minutes throwing rocks at the boy’s window before he gave up and finally tried the front door. If Eddie wasn’t going to let him sneak in, well Richie was just going to have to let Eddie’s mom know he was there. And it wasn’t unusual for him to be there after all but he knew how little Sonia Kaspbrak liked him hanging around Eddie so he tried his best to sneak in most of the times.

He rasped three more knocks against the door before finally it was swung open, there in the entrance stood Mrs.Kaspbrak with a look Richie knew too well as the _I hate Richie Tozier’s existence_ look. The teen simply gave her a grin and said. **“Good evening, Mrs.K. Is our darling Eddie home today?”** There was the usual teasing undertone to his voice, but he tried to keep it to a minimum, trying to get past the door this time. But instead he was met with a curious look and then a smile – something he hadn’t seen the other do in all the twelve years he’s known Eddie – and it was not a soft smile, it was sinister. It looked wrong and almost as if it was making fun of him.

**“Oh – you didn’t know? Eddie is spending his day at Bill’s with the others.”** Her voice was neutral as ever, but the damn smile was doing wonders to Richie. Faltering his high spirits. _Of course_, he thought. Eddie wasn’t here or otherwise he would’ve opened the window for him. But the fact that he was at Bill’s, with the _others_ and they hadn’t told him about the hang out, it sorts of hit his buttons in the wrong places. Sonia must have picked up on this.

**“Didn’t they invite you? Oh, poor you.”** And there was no need for her to still be there, but she seemed to be taking too much pleasure in seeing Richie go through all stages of grief in less than a minute.** “I’m sure they just forget to tell me.”** He mutters with a shrug and he doesn’t know why he still there, because Eddie is not here but his mind is going over the idea of the losers being together without him and having fun without him and he can’t let it go. **“Maybe they just forgot about you.”** Sonia says as a matter of fact and is all it takes for him to finally start walking away from the house.

As soon as he made it to the end of the driveway, Richie hears the door close behind him and now his good mood is ruined because as much as he hated it to admit it, Mrs.K could have very much been telling the truth. Maybe they did _forget_ about him. And it hurt to think about it, bust importantly it hurt to think about Eddie forgetting him. And Richie knew that the woman could’ve been just fucking up with him because she had always hated the idea of Richie _Loud, Obnoxious, Trashmouth_ Tozier; being a bad influence on her Eddie. But that didn’t change the fact that the losers were all _together _without _him_.

It hurts even more because all his suspicions during the last few weeks start to suddenly become a reality. They were about to graduate high school and the losers would go to great universities and places. Bev would turn out to be a great fashion designer, Bill an amazing writer – Ben even better with all his architecture and he was sure that Stan, Mike and Eddie would all become great doctors, cops or accountments as soon as they moved away. But Richie would be stuck here being nothing and a nobody and probably they would all live a very happy life without him around.

Richie decides to go straight to Bill’s house, going straight to the door this time and knocks only once before is being open by _Mrs.Denbrough_. She is smiling at him but unlike Sonia Kaspbrak’s smile, Mrs.Denbrough feels welcoming, almost as if at home. **“Hi, ma’am. Is Billy home?”** And he is waiting for a yes and for him to be let into the house but instead gets a confused look before she shakes her head. **“No, darling. Billy left early today with the rest of kids. They were going to the quarry… he had said.”** And Richie feels like he is getting stabbed right in the heart again because – they were _all_ having _fun_ without him and the reality of it just hit him. He decides to leave fast after that, simply muttering a small goodbye as he walks away from the house.

He can feel tears pick at his eyes, but he refuses to let them fall. Richie was sad – devastated to learn that his friends were somewhere else being happy together. But he was also angry, he knew they would all eventually move on with their lives and forget about him. How dare they do so while they were still in high school and would need to see him every day for the remaining of the school year. It felt like a slap, like they didn’t care for pretending anymore.

Richie makes his way to the clubhouse, because if all the losers are around the quarry having fun without him – then he’s going there. The only place he’ll be able to break down on his own without parents around to fuzz over him. Though as he nears the underground clubhouse, he starts hearing some voices. And at first in all his anger he doesn’t recognize them and thinks that someone had finally found their underground haven but soon enough he hears Eddie’s voice and he realizes all the losers are there. All of them except him.

He could just walk down and confront them but instead he stands away, far enough for them to not notice him but close enough for him to make out what they are talking about.

**“He’s going to find out sooner or later.”** He hears Eddie say. His Eds say and it feels like another dagger has been dug into his heart.

**“Eddie, please. We all know the trashmouth, isn’t that smart to figure it out.”** And it hurts to hear Stan’s voice like that. As if making fun of him. The words of Stan were followed by a small _Ow!_ And Richie thinks someone must have kicked or thrown something at Stan.

**“You all know I’m right.”** This time no _Ow_ or sound of something being thrown follows and Richie feels like sinking more into himself.

**“D-d-d-d-doesn’t matter if h-he’s smart enough or n-n-not. We can’t be t-t-t-too careful.”** Bill says then and honestly what is that supposed to mean? Were they really talking about distancing themselves already and of ways to get rid of Richie without him noticing? What a bunch of shitty friends really. And it hurts the most to not hear Eddie say anything in his defense.

Richie can’t take it anymore and decides to walk away then. He has had a moment’s thought in which he would crawl into the clubhouse and confront them all but decides against it. If they were planning on leaving him already, he was going to make it so much easier for them.

Sunday, he spent it hidden in his room. Telling his parents, he was feeling sick – enough to get them worried but not enough that they would force him to be laying around in the living room for them to watch him more closely. He had told Maggie that if any of the losers called to say that he was sick and it was contagious (even if it was a lie) and then his mother had begun to suspect that maybe he wasn’t so sick after all. But complied anyways. And every time one of the losers would call, she’d just said he was sick. None of them seemed to believe it because they called multiple times. But she still gave the same excuse.

Monday came around and Richie was tempted to tell his mother that he wasn’t feeling so well to skip school, but he was sure she wasn’t going to buy it. Instead he got dressed and dragged himself to the much-dreaded place. Instead of talking to his friends or wrapping his arms around Eddie in that protective he-is-mine kind of way (even though they were nothing but barely friends anymore), Richie went straight to class. Sitting at least one or two roads away from the losers.

By the third period, everyone began wondering if something was wrong with him. Richie wasn’t making jokes, wasn’t being his loud annoying self and instead was taking notes, paying attention and leaving class as soon as the bell rang. In reality Rich could’ve given a rat’s ass about what was being taught, but he rather focus his attention on the teacher (for once) instead of letting his mind wander back to the losers and how they all had been planning on getting rid of him.

Lunch came and Richie didn’t join the losers for lunch. Basically, went to hid himself behind the school, perfect place to be alone – perfect place to smoke. He was sort of hoping that someone would come looking for him. Anyone really, even if it was Stan and his rude comments or Billy with his stutter. But no one came looking for him and it just broke him more. This was it. The realization that he was going to be abandoned by the only people he thought that cared about him.

The rest of the day goes by pretty much the same. Him avoiding his friends, and them not trying much to reach him. The rest of the week goes by and if he exchanges more than five words with the losers, is saying much.

Thursday comes and is Eddie’s birthday. His eighteen birthday – but the boy is not at school. And neither are Bev, Bill, Ben, Mike nor Stan. And all he can think about is how they missed school to go celebrate. Celebrate without him.

And he wants to scream because its been less than a week since he found out that the losers didn’t want to be his friends anymore but it feels like its been months because he has barely talked to his friends and he has barely been around Eddie and is killing him.

Thursday night he decides to call the Kaspbrak household. Eddie is the one that answers luckily.

**“Hey Eds!”** Richie starts, with such an enthusiasm on his voice that he didn’t know he had left. But it soon dies away at the silence that follow. Wasn’t Eddie happy to hear him? **“Happy Birthday, man. Didn’t see you at school today, are you sick?” **He feigns worry in his voice because he doesn’t want to let show how much he is hurting about not being around them. But all it gets is a soft hum and he thinks he can see Eddie rolling his eyes, annoyed that Richie would even call him. **“Eds, is everything okay?”** Because the other hasn’t say anything since answering the call and Richie feels another dagger directed to his heart. **“Yeah, everything’s good… Thanks, Rich but – I have to go.”** He says quickly and Richie is almost sure he hears someone laughing in the background and a soft _Stop it, Stan_. And it hits him, the losers are all at Eddie’s place. Probably celebrating his birthday with him and here he was. Alone and forgotten.

Before the other can hung up, Richie speaks. **“Can I come later?”** And he doesn’t ask, he always states that he’ll show up but instead all he gets is a sigh. The noise on the other line at Eddie’s place has died down and he can only imagine is because the losers have figured out Richie is the one calling. **“Is better if you don’t.”** Eddie says after a pause and then the line goes dead. Richie holds his phone to his hear for a moment, trying to process what has just happened. Wanting and hoping this was a sick joke and that Eddie would talk after a few seconds and say something like _Gotcha! _Or _Sure, I’ll leave the window open_. But none of those things happens and Richie is left yet alone by himself.

He passes out that night after crying himself to sleep at two in the morning.

Friday comes and is his birthday.

He has the feeling that today isn’t going to be better than the rest of the week and really considers staying home. By now his mother knows he is not sick and is just avoiding the rest of the losers as they had been avoiding him. And he thinks that if he asks politely and nice, he might convince her to let him stay home.

But Maggie is in his room like an early bird, followed by Went Tozier and they are both happily singing happy birthday and forcing him to get up and get ready for school. Sometimes he thinks he was blessed with such carrying and loving parents – in days like these he wished someone like Mrs.K was his mother.

He gets to school, and he is almost curious to see how the losers would react to him – or if they would show up at all today. Richie is not trying to avoid them at all, trying to see if they notice him or remember his presence. They don’t.

They are all in a huddle by the lockers when he gets into school. He is making his way towards them when he sees Mike whisper something to the group and then everyone is looking at him before they are all moving away and fast from there.

_Fuck, could they be any more obvious?_

The day goes by agonizing slow. But by the time the bell rings after the last class, Richie has had enough. Decides that he will call them out on their bullshit if they much as get near him. One thing was them being assholes and distancing themselves from him. But they could have waited. Waited at least until it was past his birthday and have given him one last good memory before they had gone ahead and ruined it for him. But no – they hadn’t even congratulated him in all fucking day and if he got _two_ fucking words from all the group was saying much.

He passes the lockers and see his _ex-_friends standing there and looking at him. He thinks they are going to dodge at any time and leave but instead they just stand as if waiting for him.

Richie just walks past them and keeps going.

A hand on his wrist stops him – and he looks down to meet the owner. Is Eddie, who looks hurt for a second before his expression changes to something more of curiosity than anything. **“Hey, where are you going?”** But Richie pulls his arm away and simply says. **“Is none of your fucking business.”** And he doesn’t intend on sounding so sad – hurt and _angry_ all together but he does. He does because he is tired of them being so dismissive about him.

**“C-c-calm down, Rich.”** Comes Bill’s voice behind Eddie and Richie can’t look away from Eddie though because he looks hurt himself – closer to tears than Richie has ever seen him. **“How ‘bout you get off my dick and leave me alone.”** And the losers have barely said more than one sentence to him, but he is done. _Done _– because they had made it clear all week, they wanted nothing to do with Richie. And if what he had heard last Saturday meant anything, was that they didn’t think of him as part of the group either way.

Now that he finally decides to look at the others, he sees that Ben’s look is something close to Eddie’s own hurt face and Richie swears that Bev has tears on her eyes but there is mostly anger in them than anything. Mike, Bill and Stan just there stand there dumbfounded, as if he had slapped them.

**“Richie –“ **Eddie’s voice bring his attention back to him, and Richie wants to walk away but they are all there and Eddie is _there_, saying his name and he might have pretended he hated the losers for doing this to him but he still loved them too much to be unfazed by the situation. **“Oh, please. Don’t act like any of you give a crap about me.” **No one else is saying a word – but he can’t stop himself now. **“Most of the week you all have avoided me – yesterday none of you came and I’m sure you were all having fun with Eddie on his birthday and didn’t even bothered to invite me. Just – don’t pretend you give a fuck of where I’m going.”**

**“Richie!”** Bev’s voice was urgent as he turned around to walk away. He stopped and looked back at them. Eyes going from Ben to Bev, to Mike to Stan to Bill and then landing on Eddie. For some reason Eddie’s betrayal hurt the most. Not because he had a fat big crush on him – but because overall they had been friends for the longest. Since the moment they met in kindergarten, Richie and Eddie had been inseparable, but now it felt like a vast space stood between them and it was all his fault. **“You know I heard you all on Saturday.”** He began once more, maybe they wouldn’t even know what he was talking about. After all he had heard from afar and Saturday just seemed so far away now, they probably don’t even remember but did – very clearly because it was all he could think of.

**“How I’m not smart enough – “ **He let out a dry laugh as he glanced up to Stan. Whose words had rung on his ears for most of the week. **“How it didn’t matter if I was smart enough or not that you couldn’t be too careful?”** And he glanced to Bill them, who’s eyes grew ten times as wide as possible. He didn’t want to hurt them – not really. Because despite the hell of a week he had, he still loved them even if they didn’t love him. But he wanted the losers to know that _he_ knew. That he knew about their plan to push him aside eventually.

**“Is not what you think.”** Ben spoke but Bev was stopping him from saying anything else, hand placed on his shoulder as she shook her head – as if to stop him from saying too much and that was what it took. Because Richie couldn’t stand around anymore and hear them lie to his face. So he finally turned around and left the school.

He didn’t know where he was going – but it was not home. He didn’t have it in him to deal with his parents and well anywhere else he went to on this small town reminded him of the losers.

Maybe if he walked long enough, he’d be able to leave town eventually and never come back. That was a weird thought but one that could very well be a possibility.

He had probably been walking for almost an hour; when Mike showed up next to him on his new-old car. **“Get in.” **The other demanded and all it got in return was Richie flipping him the bird.

Richie heard Mike laugh – not making fun of him but as if finding the whole situation hilarious and Richie wanted to cry. He began walking faster but Mike; of course, was on his car and quickly caught up to him and spoke once more. **“Richie, stop being a pain and get in the car. I’ll give you a ride.”** And he doesn’t know why, but Richie finds himself listening to the other. Getting into the car and leaving out a sigh after he has settled himself. **“Care to explain, why are you in such a mood?”** Mike asks as soon as he starts the car once again and begins driving.

Richie is quiet for a moment – because he would’ve thought that with what he had told them back at the school would be enough for them to know why he was suddenly so angry. But guess it wasn’t.

After a while Richie begins explaining everything he had noticed in the last couple of weeks and how on Saturday after his encounter with Mrs.K, he had come to the realization that the losers were going to get rid of him. He says how he’d heard them talking about him – and says about how must of them had ignored him all the fucking week – therefor fueling his anxieties and fears of them getting tired and bored of him and Mike simply listens. Mutter the casual _oh_ and hums in agreement to let him know that he is listening.

Richie hates that he feels so vulnerable and hurt about what was going on. He hates that he believes that in any second everyone is going to leave him. Because he knows he is loud, and annoying and obnoxious and not the best friend at times – but he loves them all so much that it just _hurt_s.

He avoids mentioning that they also forgot about his birthday. Which he finds as _bullshit_ considering that his birthday is literally a day after Eddie’s but then again, they barely remembered that he existed today, so he fights against idea of reminding them.

He has stopped talking and Mike is pulling into Bill’s place.

**“Why are we here?”** He asks, voice small as he glances to the house and then back to Mike. And all he gets is a shrug in response.** “Dunno – the others asked me to bring you here.”** And he knows Mike is lying, by the way his figure is so stiff, and he refuses to look at Richie. And Richie just shakes his head and cross his arms over his chest. **“I’m not going in.”** But at that he gets a punch on his arm from Mike, who laughs a little and then smiles. **“Stop being such a whiny kid and let’s go.”** With that Mike gets out of the car and is safe to say he must drag Richie out of the car as well since he has made it clear he doesn’t want to go to Bill’s place.

They probably will just tell him in person the reasons as to why they didn’t want to be his friends anymore and he doesn’t want to go through that. Richie doesn’t know why he keeps going with worst case scenario as he pushed towards the house by Mike, but he simply is. Because he can’t really picture anything else happening at this time.

What he doesn’t except though is the room to be completely pitch black.

** _“SURPRISE!”_ **

He hears in unison as the lights of the house are turned on, he is blinded for a second and he brings a hand up to his face to shield from the light before his eyes finally adjust. There, a few steps away from him stand all the losers, Bev (who still looks sort of angry but not as much as before), Ben next to her, Stan, Bill – now Mike that seemed to joined them as soon as he had gotten into the house and Eddie. There is a giant banner that reads _Happy Birthday, trashmouth!_ And there are balloons floating around. Is silly and you can tell it was made by them, but this is much better than he expected.

He notices how everyone is wearing one birthday hat, except for Eddie that has two (and he assumes one of those is his own.) Richie is still confused and overwhelmed all together but seeing his friends smiling at him and the balloons and things around just seemed to soothe away all the anger he’d felt the last few days.

**“Aren’t you going to say something?”** Bev asks and despite the sharp look in her eyes, her voice is soft. But before Richie can reply, Stan is pushing Eddie into his space and saying. **“Quick Eddie, give him a kiss to make him react.” **And that gets a laugh out of Richie, and Eddie is flipping Stan off and rolling his eyes but when he looks at Richie, there is a light blush across his cheeks and for a moment Richie think the other will but instead just takes one of the hats off and hands it over to Richie. **“Here, put it on.”** Eddie simply mutters but is doing the job himself as he stood on his tip toes to reach Richie’s head.

**“Pardon my French, guys but – what the fuck is going on?”** He asks and all he gets is a confused look before Bill says. **“Is a s-s-s-s-surprise b-b-b-birthday party?”** And everyone laughs because Richie knew this. But he meant something else, what was going on. Why had they been so distant and now were talking and laughing and smiling as if they hadn’t avoided him in all week. **“Told you he wasn’t that smart.”** Stanley says to Eddie and he gets a snort from Ben and a grin from Mike.

Richie is just as hurt to hear the comment as he was last Saturday but instead looks down at Eddie for an answer. Eddie that was still standing right in front of him – too close and not moving. Eddie stares just for a moment; longer than necessary before giving a shrug and looking away.

After a moment Bev is the one to speak up and begins to explain what he soon learns was _Operation: Richie’s Birthday_. Which is something stupid and that would only come up in movies but here his friends are, talking about what had taken them months to come up with. Apparently, the idea had come up a little after Christmas, on how they needed to create the best surprise birthday party ever. And how they had come up with different ideas of throwing a party out of proportion and inviting half of the school before they had opted out for this. Just the seven on them on Bill’s house (because his parents had been nice enough to allow them to have the house for the weekend if it was just them seven) throwing a party that would last all the way until Monday.

Then explained how they realized that they hadn’t really done much of preparations last week and therefor had planned to spend Saturday going over the ideas and stuff needed to make the best birthday ever. And how in getting distracted they had sort of avoided him – also purposely at some point in fear that any of them would spill the truth about it. Everyone looked at Eddie at that. Then how on Eddie’s birthday what they were doing were the actual decorations and things at Eddie’s place. _That was why he heard them over the phone – that was why _he_ couldn’t go over Eddie’s place._ It made him feel all that much better in all honestly.

And soon after Mike explains to them all Richie had said during the ride here, how Eddie’s mom had said they forgot about him and Eddie is fuming at that. Mostly – because now Richie learns – that all the parents knew about this. His included; and Mrs.K had known what the losers were doing all along and Eddie had asked her to not say anything. Guess she had taken that as her cue to make Richie believe the losers were done with him once and for all – and she had succeeded in some way.

They spend the rest of the night just like they had done many times before, playing games – watching a moving. Eating pizzas that they’ve bought because none of them were going to try their luck at cooking and burning Bill’s house down. They drink as well and honestly this hell of a week seems nothing but a blur now that he is more than happy to forget about.

At some point he sees Eddies leave the room – its more than thirty minutes and he still not back. Richie follows right after him. He finds the boy in the kitchen, using the cordless phone and he can barely make out what he is saying. But by the way he paces around the room and his brows are knitted together – Richie knows he speaking to his mom.

**“No, ma’! You had no right.” **Richie hears Eddie say and is surprised at the tone of the others voice. He sounds angry and hurt all together and for once is arguing back to his mother. Something none of the losers had seen him do since that one time when they were thirteen years old and they all found out Sonia Kaspbrak had been lying about Eddie being sick and was just feeding him medicine he never even needed.

**“No - - you listen to me. Richie is my friend; my _best friend _and you had _no right_ to tell him such thing. You could have ruined my entire friendship with him all because you were wanting to see him hur – I’m not done talking!” **He yelled and Richie had to cover his mouth to suppress the gasp leaving him because Eddie was red – full blown yelling now. **“Ma’, you could have ruined the only good thing in my life, and I will never forgive you for that.” **He said at last before hanging up the call and that was Richie’s cue to leave and, but he found himself there, staring after the other – half amazed and a little more in love than he’d ever been.

When Eddie turned around, his eyes went wide for a second before they narrowed on him. **“Have you ever heard of privacy, dipshit?”** But his tone was nothing like the one he had mere seconds again, if anything it carried that usual teasing – borderline bickering thing he had for Richie alone. Richie simply shrugged and said: **“Is my birthday so no rules of privacy apply to me.”** And they had as much as said just one sentence and his heart was beating so fast and loud Richie thought it would fly out of his chest – he wondered if Eddie could hear it too. Fuck – how much he’d missed this. He’d take bickering Eddie over no Eddie at all any other day.

Eddie was simply rolling his eyes but stepping closer, had Richie been distracted he wouldn’t have seen the way the other looked around to make sure they were truly alone, but he saw it and for some reason Richie felt like his heart had now burst out of his chest and landed to the other side of the room.

Eddie stood too close, close enough that if Richie were to take his glasses off, he’d see the freckles perfectly doted on the others face without having to force his sight as much.

Eddie looked up at him for a moment too long and simply said **“I’m sorry about my mother.”** After a moment. And Richie had wanted to hear something much different than, he didn’t care about Sonia anymore. Honestly didn’t want to talk about her anymore because it was due her stupid comments that drove him to a week of isolation and anxieties that he felt he was never get over from. **“Forgiven and forgotten.” **He said with a smile as he reached out and pinched Eddie’s cheek, not being able to resist. He’d been too long without embracing the smaller boy – this was only fair. He thought.

All he got was Eddie swatting his hand away yet not stepping away from him like he used to, and Richie knew he was just reaching at straws here because it meant nothing. _Nothing_, they were just close. They had been closed all their lives, but the thing is that he wanted it to mean something. That Eddie wasn’y just being like this because it was his birthday, or because he was sorry his mom was a class a-bitch. He wanted to mean something, like Eddie was hopefully going to say something that would change their lives forever.

**“Happy Birthday, Rich.”** Eddie said after a while, soft and low as he simply looked down between them. There wasn’t much space and Eddie’s head practically rested against his chest, but he didn’t move – afraid that wrong movement would have the other moving ten steps away from him. **“Is not much – and the presents that I’ve got you is not even that great. But I hope you like your day.”** He finally said before wrapping his arms around Richie’s middle, and his face was buried in the taller boy’s neck. And Richie thought _This is how I die_. It only took him a second before he wrapped his own arms around Eddie.

**“Is the best birthday I could ever ask for.”** He says after a long pause, he is sure the others must be wondering where the hell they are but Richie doesn’t care because his week has just turned around and is ten thousand times better – and he is hugging the boy he’s been in loved for the past five years and he doesn’t care about anything else in the world.

Then he has an idea. Is stupid and might get him punched – and if anything, he’ll play it off as a joke because is what he has always done. Play off his own feelings as joke, so before he can chicken out, he says. **“You know what would make it better though…?” **He asks attentively, pulling away from the hug – long enough to look down at Eddie who is still hugging him with his head still buried in Richie’s neck and once he gets a hum in response that he is being listened to, he continues. **“If I got a birthday kiss.”**

Richie feels the other go stiff for a moment under him and he think he has fucked up. Because Eddie is leaning back just the slightest bit and he has his own eyes closed not wanting to see the look of possible disgust in Eddie’s face, when he hears as soft. **“Only if you promise not to tell.”** And his eyes shot open because is definitely not what he is expecting, and he looks down at the other, who’s eyes seem to shine, and Eddie’s gaze is trained on Richie’s lips and he thinks he might faint. But he doesn’t dive into it just yet. Instead he brings his right hand to cup Eddie’s cheek. Thumb carefully and softly caressing the skin under it – mesmerizing it. Because if this is the only time, he’d get to do this, he’ll sure as hell be sure to submerge himself into everything Eddie and engrave it in his memory.

He leans down but Eddie simply leans back a bit – and he think he is regretting it and Richie is ready to apologize, to joke but all that dies away when Eddie speaks first. **“Rich, I - - I don’t want to do this if is only a one-time thing.” **And the implication that he wants _more_ than this being a one-time thing, more than just _kiss and done_, is driving Richie crazy because that means – then that means. **“I like you, you dumbass. I don’t want to kiss you for you to just run away and pretend this didn’t happen.” **And Richie is not hearing anything else because he is pulling Eddie close, lips pressed to the other’s in slow kiss – Eddie’s arm come to wound around his neck and Richie’s hand fall to the other’s hips keeping him in place. Only pulling apart long enough to catch his breath.

**“I like you too, you idiot. Now shut up for once and kiss me some more.”** That gets him another punch on the arm but the other boy is pulling him down again to kiss him.

In the leaving room the rest of the losers all sit watching the moving that was currently playing. After a while Stan speaks. **“Ten bucks says that Richie asked for a birthday kiss from Eddie.”** And that gets the others losers’ attention and they are all quiet for a moment before they began laughing and after a moment Bev says. **“Let’s make that twenty – and they end up fucking in Bill’s bed.” **Which gets Ben to choke on his drink, Mike burst out laughing again and Bill is up and running towards his friends yelling at them that whatever they plan on doing, to take Georgie’s room.


End file.
